Railway car truck



'April 24, 1945. w. A. GEIGER RAILWAY CAR TRUCK Inuerzz'r Filed Oct. 13, 1943 Patented Apr. 24, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE l it Q crevasse" M f s RAI LWAY AR 'rnncK p I William A. Geiger, Chicago, Ill., assignor to William P. Sidley, M. F. Back, Albert P. Withr "all, Edwin 0. Austin, and George A. Johnson, I

all of Chicago,.Ill., and Alice T. Miner, Chazy, N. Y., ,as trusteesof The William H. Miner,

Foundation Application Octfiberla 9 3. Serial No. 506,084 s 3 claims. (o1. 105-1911)" This invention relates to an improved railway car truck and partioularlytoimproved spring means therefor. i V

f One of the objects of the invention is to increase the spring capacity of railway'car trucks Without the necessity of materially changing or enlarging the usual side frame and bolster.

More specifically, my object is to supplement the usual coil spring supports by the provision of leaf spring meanslpositioned lengthwise of the side frame and within the confines of the walls of the frame itself to be acted on directly by the bolster.- s

A further object is to utilize these supplemental springs as a snubbing or shock absorbing means for dampening Qrcushioning the. action: of the springs of the car truck to minimize the vibrations imparted to the car body.

Other objects of the invention ,will appear from the description; in connection with the accompanying drawing.

Referring to this drawing,

Fig. 1 is a vertical central section of the teen-" tral portion of a railway car truckgside frame in a direction lengthwise of the carand showing the associated bolster and spring clusters, and illustrating my improvements in connectaken substanf tiOn, therewith, this view being tially on the line l-l f Fig. 2; M s v Fig. .2 is a horizontal transverse section substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;,

3 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 1, showing the modification of the invention; and- Fig. 4 is a detailvertical section substantially on the line 4-4 of Fig.3.

-In the drawingA indicates one of the side, frame members of a railway car truck. As will be understood by those skilled in the art. a -railway car truck includes two side frame members A a transverse truck bolster B, achannelshaped spring plank C, andtrucksprings D. The opposite ends of the spring plank are supported on the bottom members or seats in of the truck purposes not directly concerned with this invention.

In addition, a central bolster opening E is the frame. The end of the bolster is positioned between the end walls I! and is guided thereby for vertical movementin the frame, and the bolster has guide lugs IB-which embrace the side walls of the frame to prevent endwise move:

ment of the bolster. The lower portions of the end walls I! are offset to widenthe opening in the frame so thatin assembling, the, truck bolster can be inserted endwise into the wider opening and then raised up into position; also,the, wider portion of the opening provides space for the bolster supporting springs D, and the spring plank C. As is well known in the art, the springs D arev generally in the form of coil Springs, :3. pluralitypffwhichare arranged in a nest or cluster and positioned between, the bolster and the spring [plank which is supported on the bottom wall l6 of the bolster opening so as to yieldingly support the bolster in the frame. In the present structure, the cluster at each end of the bolster comprises four springs, the upper and lower ends of which bear against top and. bottom spring follower plates I9.

- between the side walls of the frame.

The bolster endportions are generally rectangular in section and are formed as hollow castings having vertical side walls andhorizontal top and bottom walls. In addition to this, the bolster has a general, central, longitudinal, reinforcing Wall 20 extendinglengthwise of the bolster and parallel with the side walls.

Inyaccordance with my invention, I provide a supplemental spring element F in the frame to increase the spring capacity of the truck and to provide a snubbing action for the main spring D, to minimize the vibrations imparted to the car. The supplemental spring element F is in the form of resilientsteel leavesor plates 21,. a number of which are superposed one upon the other to form a bundle, the ends of which are enclosed in can members 22 which hold the leaves assembled, Theseleaf springs 2| are disposed in the side frame in a direction lengthwise of the car and are thus contained within the confines of said The springs extend through openside frame. ings 23 in the vertical end walls I! of the frame and theircapped ends are positioned in the space In order to prevent endwise displacement of the spring element F, the rods or bars 24 are provided as abut- I frictional resistance to the main springs.

this space, the extension is preferably made crossshaped in section.

I claim:

1. In a railway car truck, the combination of I a railway car truck side frame comprising side walls spaced apart and joined by end walls forming a bolster opening, 'a transversely disposed 25 are sufficiently large to allow for the relative I movement of the bolster with respect to the spring. In like manner, the spring element F extends through an opening 26 in the central partition or rib 20 of the bolster. The top wall 21 of the bolster is arranged to bear or rest. upon the top of the spring element F, and this wall is given a suitable curvature so that the spring element F will be given the proper curvature when flexed downwardly. It will thus be seen that the spring capacity of the truck is increased without any material change in the size or for mation of the usual side frame and bolster, and thatthis additional spring capacity is contained entirely within the confines of the side frame and occupies space which has heretofore been unused. In addition, these supplemental springs act as snubbersto dampen the compression and recoil'or rebound of the main springs D, by virtue of the movement of the leaves upon each other when the springs are flexed, thus developing a Flexing of the springs in both directions of movement of the bolster is due to the fact that the spring element F is, confined between the bottom of the opening 26 in the central partition 20 and the curved top wall of the bolster.

In assembling the structure, the bolster is raised in the sideframe until the openings 23 and 25 are in substantial alignment. The springs are then inserted through the openings M of the frame andextend through these openings 23 and 25. After being inserted in place in this manner, thecaps 22 are assembled on the ends of the spring group and the bars 214 are then put in pl e,

In the modification shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the spring capacity of the truck is still further increased by the provision of a second set of leaf plate springs G, which are positioned in the frame between the side walls thereof andbelow the main springs D. This group of leavesforming the, spring element G is similar to the spring element F, except that they are normally given a curvature so that their ends will bear upon the bottom wall I3of the side frame, and the central portion thereof will be positioned close to the bottom wall I6 of the bolster opening. This spring element is inserted in place through the frame openings l4 and is held against endwise movement by the cross-bars 21 which are similar to the bars 24 above described in connection with Fig. 1. Inorder to transmit the movement of the bolster to the spring element G, so thatthe spring element G will supplement resistance of the'main coil springs to the downward movement of the bolster, an extension member 28 is' provided, which is positioned between the bottom of the bolster and the spring element G so that its lower end will bear upon the spring element G. This extension may be of any suitable form for the purpose. In the present structure, this extensionis disposed in the center of the cluster of main springs D in the space .29 between the springs; and in order that it may conform to bolster having a hollow rectangular end portion movable vertically in the upper portion of said opening, said end portion having openings in its side walls adjacent said end walls of the frame and having means'for guiding said bolster in its movement, a group of coil springs seated in said frame between the bottom of said opening and the bottom wall of said rectangular portion of the bolster, a group of flat plate springs extending horizontally lengthwise of the frame through the openings in the side walls of the bolster and through said end walls into the space between said frame side walls and held against vertical movement by said frame side walls, means in said bolster end portion forming a top wall having a downwardly convex surface bearing upon said plate springs t conform to the flexing of said plate springs upon the downward=movement of said bolster, and a central rib in said bolster bearing against the under side ofsaid plate springs to flex said springs upwardly and dampen the recoil of said coil springs.

2. In a railwaycar truclgthe combination of aside frame having a bolster' opening, a trans-, versely disposed bolster extending through said opening and guided for vertical movement there in, a spring cluster in said opening and posi- 4 disposed lengthwise within the confines of the frame and disposed below said'spring cluster, and

a column extending from said bolster to said last mentioned leaf springs for transmitting the downward movement of the bolster to said last mentioned leaf springs 3. Ina railway car truck, the combination of a side frame having a bolster opening, a bolster positioned in the upper portion of said opening and guided for vertical movement therein, a group f main springs positioned'in said opening, between the under side of the'bolster and the bottom of said bolster opening, and upper and lower supplemental spring elements disposed within said frame in a lengthwise direction of the carfor yieldingly' supporting the bolster, said supplemental spring elements each'comprising a group of plate springs, said upper supplemental spring elements having their ends anchored in the walls of the frame and extending through the bolster and said lower supplemental spring elements being positioned below the said main springs and having their ends bearing upon the bottom wall of the frame, 'an extension bar for the bolster positioned between the under side of the bolster and extending downwardly between'the .coils'of the main springs and bearing upon said lower supplemental spring elements for transmitting the downward movementof the bolster to said lower spring elements, and means in saidframe for holding the supplemental spring elements against shifting lengthwise of themselves.

WILLIAM A. ,GEIGER'. 

